Enquirer Consulting Group

Partner Perspectives Buyer Map

Tim Lowe | Partner Perspectives | October 2026

As of 12 Oct 2026

This page maps the technology companies most likely to buy channel consulting like yours, sorted by type and size, with who usually signs off at each.

Partner Perspectives works with technology vendors and the channel partners who sell their products, and runs a practice for vendors and partners selling into government and education. The groups below follow that.

Counts are for the whole US and are rough on purpose.

Where your buyers sit

Organizations by staff size, US wide. Vendors first, then the partners and wholesalers who sell for them.

Group	Organizations in the US	Under 20 staff	20 to 99	100 to 499	500 or more
Software publishers	about 14,000	about 11,000	about 1,600	about 640	about 420
Computer, storage and peripheral makers	about 570	about 350	about 110	about 49	about 65
Networking and communications equipment makers	about 1,100	about 680	about 230	about 84	about 77
Cloud, hosting and data services providers	about 11,000	about 8,900	about 1,300	about 650	about 570
Technology wholesalers and distributors	about 5,100	about 4,100	about 690	about 230	about 130
Solution providers, resellers and managed service firms	about 54,000	about 50,000	about 3,200	about 880	about 580

US firm counts by industry code, banded deliberately.

Who usually signs off

The person who usually owns the channel decision at each group, and what they tend to need from an outside channel advisor.

Group	Who usually signs off	What they need from Partner Perspectives
Software publishers	VP of channels or alliances; the chief revenue officer at smaller firms	A partner program that brings in new deals
Computer, storage and peripheral makers	VP of worldwide channels; the channel marketing director runs programs and incentives	Partner tiers, incentives and training that move partners from fulfillment to selling
Networking and communications makers	VP of channel sales; the partner program director	Help recruiting and ramping partners who can sell more complex solutions
Cloud, hosting and data services providers	Head of partnerships; the VP of sales at smaller firms	A first channel motion built to run beside direct sales
Technology wholesalers and distributors	VP of vendor management or business development	Help growing their vendor lines through the reseller base
Solution providers, resellers and managed service firms	The owner or CEO at smaller firms; the VP of vendor alliances at larger ones	Picking the right vendor programs and getting more from the benefits they already earn

Where the bigger buyers sit

Vendors with a formal partner program are mostly the mid size and larger makers and publishers. Many smaller software and hardware firms sell direct, so the larger size bands in each vendor row are the likeliest buyers of program design and channel strategy.

Solution providers and resellers skew small. The owner usually makes the call, so a direct note to the owner or the person who runs vendor relationships reaches the decision.

Where Partner Perspectives could start

Vendors new to government and education

Your public sector practice helps vendors and partners get past the barriers to entry in federal, state and local government, K-12 and higher education. Start with mid size software and hardware makers that sell through partners but have no public sector channel yet.

Program work at mid size vendors

Channel strategy and program design fit vendors that run a partner program without a large channel team behind it. The mid size bands in the software, hardware and networking rows are a good place to look for that gap.

Partners chasing more from their vendors

On the partner side, larger solution providers and managed service firms juggle many vendor programs at once. Training their sellers to win more through those programs speaks to the owner directly.

Built from public federal business statistics and the company's own published materials, counts banded deliberately. Decision roles are typical, not named people.

If a walk-through is useful, pick a time at cal.com/ecg.

Prepared by Ben Beattie, ben@enquirerconsulting.com.